Trondheimsfjord - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Trondheimsfjord an inlet of the Norwegian Sea

Norwegian Sea

The Norwegian Sea is a marginal sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of Norway. It is located between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea and adjoins the North Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a...

, is Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

's third longest fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

at 130 kilometres (80.8 mi) long. It is located in the west central part of the country, and it stretches from Ørland

Ørland

Ørland is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Brekstad. Other villages include Uthaug, Opphaug, and Ottersbo...

in west to Steinkjer

Steinkjer

is a town and a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Steinkjer, which is also the seat of the county government...

in north, passing the city of Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...

on its way. Its maximum depth is 617 metres (2,024.3 ft), just inside of Agdenes

Agdenes

Agdenes is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre is the village of Selbekken. Other villages in the municipality include Ingdalen, Lensvik, Vassbygda, and Leksa.-General information:...

.

The largest islands in the fjord are Ytterøy

Ytterøy

Ytterøy is a former municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It originally encompassed the island of Ytterøya and parts of the mainland to the northwest of the island on the west side of the Trondheimsfjord. The island is located in the present-day municipality of Levanger which is located...

and Tautra

Tautra

Tautra is an island in the municipality of Frosta in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the Trondheimsfjord, just north of the city of Trondheim. The island is connected to the rest of Frosta by a long causeway bridge....

; the small Munkholmen

Munkholmen

Munkholmen is an islet north of Trondheim, Norway. It sits in the Trondheimsfjord about northwest of the island of Brattøra and the mouth of the river Nidelva. The islet has served as a place of execution, a monastery, a fortress, prison, and a World War II anti-aircraft gun station...

is located near the harbor

Harbor

A harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships, boats, and barges can seek shelter from stormy weather, or else are stored for future use. Harbors can be natural or artificial...

of Trondheim; and there are several islands at the entrance of the fjord

Fjord

. The narrow Skarnsundet is crossed by the Skarnsund Bridge

Skarnsund Bridge

Skarnsund Bridge is a long concrete cable-stayed bridge that crosses the Skarnsundet sound, in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. When finished in 1991, it replaced the Vangshylla–Kjerringvik Ferry and it gives the communities in Mosvik and Leksvik easier access to the central areas of Innherred...

. The part of the fjord to the north of the strait

Strait

A strait or straits is a narrow, typically navigable channel of water that connects two larger, navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not...

is referred to as Beitstadfjorden
Beitstadfjorden
Beitstadfjorden is the innermost arm of the Trondheimsfjord in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the municipalities of Steinkjer, Inderøy, Verran, and Mosvik. The fjord has a length of from southwest to northeast, and a width of about ....

. The main part of Trondheimsfjord is ice

Ice

Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...

free all year; only Verrasundet, a long and narrow fjord branch in the northern part of the fjord, might be ice covered in winter. The Beitstadfjorden

Beitstadfjorden

Beitstadfjorden is the innermost arm of the Trondheimsfjord in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the municipalities of Steinkjer, Inderøy, Verran, and Mosvik. The fjord has a length of from southwest to northeast, and a width of about ....

might also freeze over in winter, but only for a few weeks.

The towns Stjørdal

Stjørdal

is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Stjørdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Stjørdal, also called Stjørdalshalsen...

, Levanger

Levanger

Levanger is a town and municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherred region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Levanger...

, and Steinkjer

Steinkjer

are found on the eastern and northeastern shore of the fjord. Aker Verdal in Verdal

Verdal

Verdal is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Verdalsøra...

produces large offshore installations

Oil platform

An oil platform, also referred to as an offshore platform or, somewhat incorrectly, oil rig, is a lаrge structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing...

for the petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

sector. A yard in Rissa

Rissa, Norway

Rissa is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Årnset...

completed the luxurious apartment ship MS The World. Fiborgtangen

Fiborgtangen

Fiborgtangen is a peninsula and industrial site located along the Trondheimfjord in the northwest part of the village of Skogn in the municipality of Levanger in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. The site hosts the paper mill Norske Skog Skogn and the associated port used to ship newsprint away from...

is a peninsula along the eastern
shore of the fjord where a large paper mill

Paper mill

A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...

owned by Norske Skog

Norske Skog

Norske Skogindustrier ASA or Norske Skog, which translates as Norwegian Forest Industries, is a Norwegian pulp and paper company based in Oslo, Norway and established in 1962...

is situated.

Trondheimsfjorden has a rich marine life, with both southern and northern species; at least 90 species of fish have been observed, and the fjord has the largest biological production among Norway's fjords. In recent years deep water coral

Coral

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...

s (Lophelia pertusa

Lophelia pertusa

Lophelia pertusa is a species of cold-water coral which grows in the deep waters throughout the North Atlantic ocean, as well as parts of the Caribbean Sea and Alboran Sea. L...

) were discovered in the fjord, not far from the city of Trondheim

Trondheim

. Several of the best salmon

Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

rivers in Norway empty into Trondheimsfjord. Among these are Gaula (in Melhus

Melhus

Melhus is a village and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Melhus...

just south of Trondheim), Orklaelva (in Orkdal

Orkdal

Orkdal is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Orkanger. Other villages in the municipality include Kjøra, Geitastrand, Gjølme, Thamshavn, Fannrem, Vormstad, Svorkmo, and...

), Stjørdalselva

Stjørdalselva

Stjørdalselva is a long river that reaches from near the Norwegian–Swedish border down the Stjørdalen valley through the municipalities of Meråker and Stjørdal before entering the Trondheimsfjord. The mouth is located between the villages of Stjørdalshalsen and Hell just south of Trondheim...

(in Stjørdal), and Verdalselva

Verdalselva

Verdalselva is a long river in the municipality of Verdal in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. The river begins at Holmen in the village of Vuku at the confluence of the rivers Inna and Helgåa. The river Inna drains the lake Innsvatnet near the Swedish border and the river Helgåa runs from the...

(in Verdal

Verdal

Verdal is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Verdalsøra...

The lowland east and south of the fjord represents one of Norway's best agricultural

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

areas. The more rugged and mountainous Fosen

Fosen

Fosen is a traditional district in Trøndelag, consisting of the municipalities Osen, Roan, Åfjord, Bjugn, Ørland, Rissa, Agdenes, Snillfjord, Hemne, Hitra and Frøya. The district is dominated by forested valleys, lakes, coastal cliffs but also shallow areas, and in the interior mountains reaching...

peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

is situated to the west and northwest, giving some shelter from the wind

Wind

Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...

common to coastal areas.

The Trondheimsfjord was an important waterway

Waterway

A waterway is any navigable body of water. Waterways can include rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, and canals. In order for a waterway to be navigable, it must meet several criteria:...

in the Viking Age

Viking Age

Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...

, as it is still today. In 1888, an undersea mudslide caused a tsunami

Tsunami

A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...

which killed one person in Trondheim and ruptured three railway lines.

Four giant squid

Giant squid

The giant squid is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae, represented by as many as eight species...

s have been found in the fjord, which is among the highest concentrations in the world.

Name

The fjord is named after Trondheim

Trondheim

- but originally the name of the fjord might have been just *Þrónd or *Þróund in Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

. A name like that would be related to the verb þróast which means to "thrive" or "flourish" and the name Þrór which means "likeable" or "stoutish" (and it was one of Odin

Odin

Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....

's nicknames).

If this is the case, then the people living around the fjord (the þrœndir, see Trøndelag

Trøndelag

Trøndelag is the name of a geographical region in the central part of Norway, consisting of the two counties Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag. The region is, together with Møre og Romsdal, part of a larger...

) named themselves after the fjord. (Compare sygnir which means "the people living around the fjord Sogn

Sogn

Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway . It is located in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, surrounding the Sognefjord. Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestrand, Hyllestad, Høyanger, Gulen, Leikanger, Luster, Lærdal, Sogndal, Solund, Vik, and Årdal. The district covers ...

".)

External links

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